


Family Matters

by threadedLifesource



Series: An Old Fashioned Notion [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers children, Multi, Not them as children but they have children, On Hiatus I dont know when it'll be back
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-23 03:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2532485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threadedLifesource/pseuds/threadedLifesource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shay knew that her life would get even weirder when she and the team moved into Avengers Tower, but she didn’t expect this. Archer’s acting weird, Iris is being even more secretive than usual, Alek meets his uncle Loki, and Shay and Belle try to get their dads together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel is here! You know, I never thought I’d be able to write a sequel to any one of my stories, I thought I’d lose interest in whatever I was writing about, but I was wrong! I am still as obsessed with the Avengers as ever. So, like I said in the summary, this story will eventually have Tony/Steve, so if you don’t like, don’t read.
> 
> I now present...FAMILY MATTERS! Otherwise known as, Alek becomes a big brother, Hulk and Junior have family time, Shay, Belle, and Pepper are sneaky and try to get Tony and Steve together, and Iris tries to get Archer to tell Shay how he feels about her.
> 
> Disclaimer- I do not own the Avengers, I merely own Shay, Belle, Archer, Iris, Ethan, and Alek.
> 
> ~TL: I hope you enjoy this because i sure do!!

**~~~~~Wednesday, July 3rd, early morning~~~~~**

 

Breakfast was something that had become a tradition to the team. Whenever they were in the same building, it would always happen exactly like it always did.

 

Belle was always up first, and she was usually in the gym, if whatever building they were in at the moment had one, or she was out for a jog. If she was jogging, she’d be back home before any of the others woke up, if she was in the gym, Iris, who woke up next, would come get her and they would go to the kitchen together to wait for the others.

 

After Iris, Shay would come stumbling in, her body never letting her get more than four hours of sleep in one sitting, or she had stayed up the night before and realized that Belle and Iris should be up by now. She’d sit down and stare at the coffee maker until one of the others rolled their eyes and started it. On the days when Belle and Iris wanted to torture her, they wouldn’t start it, then Shay would take out the coffee beans and chew on them until she had enough caffeine in her system to press the button herself.

 

Archer was next, and he’d grab a cup up coffee, and then fall down onto his chair and stare into space until somebody put a plate of food in front of him. Ethan came down from wherever he was whenever he sensed the coffee was done, and I mean sensed, I really do, that guy was magic when it came to coffee.

 

Alek was the only one who was truly a “morning person.” He woke up latest, but he and Belle were the only ones who weren’t half-dead in the morning, infact, Alek was the opposite, he was bright, cheerful, happy, and annoying to anybody who’s worst enemy was mornings.

 

Breakfast was one of the few things that hadn’t changed since moving into Avengers Tower.

 

There was a kitchen on each floor of the tower, and the adults always went up to Tony and Shay’s floor for breakfast. The kids had learned that quickly, so they always went down to Steve and Belle’s floor for the most important meal of the day. Steve, Natasha, and Bruce were usually always up before Shay, but she had learned the fine art of sneaking around them and taking the stairs down a floor. The rest of the adults usually got up before the kids stumbled their way in, so the others never had to worry about running into their parents before 10:00.

 

So the kids managed to continue their tradition, and currently, Iris and Archer were talking about some kind of ninja move that Archer needed work on, Belle was drawing in a small notebook that she carried everywhere, Shay and Ethan were staring at the coffee maker that was currently filling up like it was a god, and Alek was alternatively biting into a eggo blueberry waffle and a strawberry poptart. When asked why, he’d simply replied, “Fruit is good for you, and it is the most important meal of the day,” and continued eating.

 

It was just as awkward as you’d expect, living here with their parents who were also international superheroes that they had known for less than a month, but it could be worse. All of the children were getting along well with their parents, and Alek and Ethan were getting along with Jane and Betty very well, so things were going good with them.

 

The coffee maker beeped, and Shay and Ethan suddenly had the energy to run over to it, and fill their mugs to the top. Shay gulped down half of it in one huge sip, completely ignoring the fact that it burnt her mouth. Ethan drank his coffee much slower, and Archer, who wasn’t a zombie without coffee, got up and slowly poured a cup for himself, and calmly sat back down.

 

Shay finally pulled away from her coffee when the mug was empty. “Nectar of the gods, that’s what this is.” She said, and got up for a refill, having finished her coffee in less than two minutes.

 

However, breakfast was one of the few things that hadn’t changed. There was one real big thing that the team had to learn to deal with, in the twelve days that they had lived in the tower, they’d learned very quickly, about the horrors of the paparazzi.

 

Now, the whole story hadn’t been released, of course it hadn’t, all the public knew, was that the Avengers had blood-related children who had been raised for nearly sixteen years without any of their parents knowing that they existed. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t a whole truth. The press had a field day, and within the first two days of announcing it, people began calling it a hoax because Steve was still in the ice at that time, and Natasha had never shown signs of being pregnant. It had taken a blood test for people to actually believe that they were, in fact, telling the truth. The public had been told that they didn’t need to know the whole story, and that it was for the best if they just pretended that the cover story made sense.

 

Now, all that mattered to the paparazzi, was getting a picture of the children.

 

Of course, there had been a few pictures taken, the kids couldn’t stay in the tower forever, but the team was now as famous as their parents. All of their names had been publically released, everybody knew Shanelle Stark, and Belle Rogers, and all of the other kids’ names. It was very annoying.

 

Now, somehow, the children had managed to convince their parents that they weren’t fragile little butterflies, and that they could protect themselves. Eventually, they had made a deal, the team would train at Shield headquarters until they were 18, and they would take the smaller missions that the police couldn’t do, but the Avengers were too busy to do.

 

However, nobody was thinking about the press, or missions, or anything except one thing today. Tomorrow, was Steve’s birthday.

 

Their parents had been planning it for a while, and had got the kids on board their plans, a small party, a surprise party. Apparently, it was the first surprise party for Steve, however, he had been the one who had suggested parties for the rest of his team. Apparently, Tony’s party was just this last May, and they’d gotten a video of his reaction, apparently he had yelped like a 5-year-old girl, dropped his coffee, jumped about five feet in the air, and then fell.

 

That was a video that Shay really wanted to see.

 

So, because they were going to be busy on July 4th, there was going to be a big party tonight. The press was invited, along with several contributors to Stark Industries and a lot of important people in the city. Well, Steve called them important, but the kids didn’t need Tony’s verification to know that important meant wealthy.

 

The kids knew, however, that they were going to be forced to go to the party, and that was...well that was just great (that was sarcasm, in case you didn’t know).

 

The kids didn’t like it at all, but the adults should be used to these parties by now.

 

Should be.

 

Pepper Potts-Hogan, who the kids had met last week, walked into Steve’s kitchen, her eyes wandering dangerously over the people in the room, and then she sighed in annoyance.

 

“Have any of you seen Tony or Clint?” She asked.

 

“No, sorry.” Belle said apologetically.

 

Pepper sighed again. “Why do they always try to hide? We always find them.”  She said, sitting down an empty chair next to Shay, who looked at her, before standing up and walking over to the cabinets. She grabbed an empty coffee mug and walked over to the coffee machine, filling it up.

 

She walked back over to Pepper and put the mug in front of her. “You look like you need it.” Shay said simply, and Pepper smiled and grabbed it.

 

“Thank you.” She said, and took a huge drink, before smiling slightly.

 

“Do you need help finding them?” Belle asked, in true Belle fashion.

 

“No, it’s only Tony and Clint who hide, and the rest of us always find them in time. I don’t know why Tony hides, he should be used to the press by now.” She said, and finished off her coffee, putting the empty mug in the sink.

 

“Remember, the party starts at 4:00, so you don’t need to start getting ready yet, but you’ll need to finish by 3:30, so we have time for the drive, and we’ll be there about ten minutes early. I think you kids know how long it will take you to get ready, and I’m trusting that you won’t try to hide.” She said the last part almost as a warning, her eyes wandering between Shay and Archer, who smiled angelically.

 

She stared at them for a moment before turning to Belle and Iris in an unspoken question.

 

The two girls nodded. “Yeah, we’ll make sure they get ready.” Belle said, and Pepper seemed to relax slightly.

 

“Thank you, and if you see either of their dads, just tell Jarvis, and he’ll tell us.” She said, and started to walk back out of the room, but then paused right outside the door. “Remember, dress formal.” Then she was gone.

 

It was quiet for a second.

 

“Wait...did she say formal?” Archer asked, and looked like he was about to run for his life.

 

Iris grabbed his arm. “Yes, yes she did.” She said, silently threatening him.

 

He gulped.

**~~~~3:28 p.m.~~~~**

 

Belle bit her lip and stared at the digital clock on the wall. Okay, she wasn’t exactly nervous, but she didn’t want them to be late. This was the first time that the children really interacted with the press, and she didn’t want to make a bad impression.

 

The kids were all here, aside from Iris and Archer, and Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Pepper weren’t here either. Iris was trying to drag Archer down, and she had no doubt that Natasha and Pepper were looking for Clint and Tony respectively.

 

Alek was wearing a white tux with a black tie and black dress shoes. Thor was dressed similarly, but with a green tie, and Jane was wearing an emerald green dress that showed the baby bump, although most things she wore did, she was seven months pregnant after all.

 

Ethan had on a gray tuxedo jacket over a white button-up shirt, and a pair of dark gray pants with black shoes. Bruce was wearing a baby blue button-up shirt with a black jacket, he had on black pants and shoes. Betty was wearing a baby blue dress that matched Bruce’s shirt.

 

Shay was wearing a red dress that went down to mid-thigh, but belle knew that she had a pair of shorts under them. She also had heels that turned her 5’1 frame to 5’7, Belle would’ve broke her neck if she tried walking in them. Although, Belle also would’ve been 6’1, she was still taller than Shay even when she was wearing heels.

 

Belle herself was wearing a dark blue dress that went down to her knees with white leggings and a pair of matching dark blue flats, because, like she said, she was already tall enough. Steve had on an old fashioned military-style tuxedo that had a name tag on it, like everybody there wouldn’t already know his name.

 

She looked back at the clock 3:30, they weren’t going to be late, but now they weren’t going to be early either. She could tell that she wasn’t the only one who was worried, Steve and Bruce kept glancing up at the clock too, and so was Happy Hogan, the driver, and Pepper’s husband.

 

Finally, finally, Archer and Iris came into the garage, Iris literally dragging Archer, who walked behind her dejectedly. Iris was wearing a black dress that went to mid-thigh and a pair of black tights and black heels. Archer was wearing a black jacket over a white button-up shirt, he had a pair of black pants and shoes.

 

“Good job, Iris.” Shay said when the two missing members of their team walked up to them.

  
“Yup, he tried to hide in the vents, but he forgot that my mom showed me the maps of the vent systems too.” She said, and Archer groaned, and leaned against the limo that was parked next to them.

 

Archer’s suffering was stopped when Tony, Clint, Natasha, and Pepper walked inside, Natasha dragging her husband by the ear, Tony pouting with Pepper smirking triumphantly.

 

“Okay,” Pepper started when she saw that everybody was here. “There’s going to be two limos, the Avengers in one, and the children in the other, the children will be riding with Happy.” The man in question waved at the kids. “The adults will get there first and the kids will arrive right after them.” Then she turned to the kids, and spoke to them. “Remember, the press is going to ask a bunch of questions, most of which will probably be rude, and they don’t respect personal space at all.” She warned them.

 

“Great, this’ll be fun.” Archer muttered sarcastically, before Iris pushed him into the limo, quickly followed by the rest of the team. “See you soon.” Tony waved, before Ethan shut the door behind him.

 

**~~~~3:56, Arriving at the Party~~~~**

 

It was only when the limo pulled to a stop that everything actually registered to Belle. There were going to be reporters, they would get into her personal space, and they would expect her to be charming and sweet and not nervous at all.

  
She was screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- If you recognize it from anywhere other than this story, I don’t own it.

**~~~~In the limo~~~~**

 

“Okay,” Shay started, taking charge. “Remember, we’re using the buddy system, a person who isn’t terrified of the photographers, and a person who probably wants nothing more than to run away screaming right now.” Her eyes traveled to Belle and Ethan. “Archer and Iris, you get out first, then Alek and Ethan, then me and Belle.”

 

“Belle and I.”

 

“Shut up, Archer.” Iris said, rolling her eyes.

 

Then, Happy opened the door, and their conversation was cut short.

 

The flashes almost blinded Belle, and she hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet, that was a bad sign.

 

Archer shared a look with Iris, before sighing. “I know that I’m really good at archery, but I don’t know if I can do it blind, I hope they know that.” He muttered, before putting a smile on his face, and stepping out of the limo. Immediately, the screaming got louder and there were even more flashes.

 

Iris followed him, putting a perfect press smile on her face, like she had been practicing for this day her whole life. Alek and Ethan stepped out together, Alek making sure that Ethan didn’t run away with his tail between his legs.

 

Belle turned to Shay, her eyes wide, and opened her mouth to say something, but no noise came out.

 

“Oh god, don’t throw up on me, this dress was expensive.” Shay said, and then smiled slightly. “I’ll be right behind you, literally less than a foot behind you, everything’s gonna be fine. You just gotta remember, it’s for charity.” Shay tried to reassure her.

 

“Right, charity.” Belle mumbled, and stepped out of the limo.

 

Immediately, she was swarmed.

 

There were ropes to keep people off of the red carpet, (Seriously, red carpet? What was this? A movie premiere?) but that didn’t stop the people who were behind the ropes who were trying to grab her and pull her toward them. There were also several members of the press who were allowed on the red carpet, and she immediately had several microphones shoved in her face, and people were shouting questions at her.

 

She thought she was about to have a panic attack, but then a hand was on her back, and Shay smiled charmingly at all of the reporters.

 

“Oh yeah,” Belle thought to herself. “She was right behind me.”

 

Then, Shay was apologizing to the reporters professionally, and pushing her into the building. Alek and Ethan were right in front of them, apparently, Alek had stopped to pose for a couple of pictures.

 

God, that must’ve been terrible for Ethan.

 

Iris and Archer were just inside the building, waiting for the rest of their teammates. All of their parents had already been dragged away, but they had been watching the doors until their kids came inside, and visibly looked relieved when they came in.

 

Belle turned to Shay. “How do you do that?” She had to ask.

 

“Do what?” Shay asked.

 

“Manage to deal with the press, and manage to get what you want without getting anyone angry.” Belle explained.

 

“Well, I guess it’s in my blood.” Shay shrugged, and then grinned. “You okay? You looked like you were gonna have a panic attack back there.”

 

“I almost did.” Belle admitted, smiling sheepishly.

 

Shay laughed. “Well, we probably shouldn’t leave you alone then.”

**~~~~20 minutes later~~~~**

 

Of course, that didn’t work out very well.

 

Shay and Belle had gotten separated within five minutes, and it didn’t look like the rest of their team was sticking to the whole, buddy-system idea, either. Ethan was hiding in the corner, which wasn’t surprising at all, Alek had immediately run off to the buffet table, again, not surprising, Iris and Archer were both doing separate interviews, however, they were within 10 feet of each other, so they were doing better than the rest of them.

 

Shay, meanwhile, had been doing what Starks naturally do in this sort of situation, charming the pants off of everyone. She’d taken countless pictures, and had already done 4 interviews. They hadn’t asked her any unsuspected questions, they’d stuck with the ones that everybody had seen coming, like-

 

Q- “Which of the other children are you closest to, and why?”

 

Shay’s answer- “Well, I can’t really answer that, because we’re all close in different ways, Ethan is smart enough to always understand what I’m saying, Belle is fun to annoy, Alek is just...well, it’s never boring around him. There are reasons why I’m close to every one of them.”

 

That had probably been the hardest question to answer, the others were things like, “How do you get along with your dad?” “What do you think about the other Avengers?” “Where are you from?” “Do you have a boyfriend?”

 

God, they’d gotten lazy with the questions at the end.

  
Meanwhile, she couldn’t see Belle anywhere, and that was starting to worry her. Her friend could be panicking in the bathroom, or she could have been kidnapped by a rogue enemy of their parents, and could currently be sitting in a dark room with a bomb about to go off!  
  


Okay, that second one was a worst case scenario, but still, it could happen.

 

Okay, more likely, she was walking by all of the charity stands, collecting fliers and pamphlets, and taking pictures with the people from the Red Cross, or the Salvation Army.

  
Yeah, that seemed like Belle’s style.

 

“Having fun?” A, by now, very familiar, casual, voice asked, coming to stand next to her. It was Tony, of course, because Tony is one of the very few people who could sound casual at this party.

 

“Well, I’m definitely having more fun than Ethan.” She gestured to the boy hiding in his corner, trying to avoid photographers, and interviewers, and anything that would draw attention to him in general.

 

Tony looked over at the boy, and chuckled. “Bruce did the same thing for years, actually, he only just stopped doing that about two years ago.”

 

Shay tried to imagine Ethan hiding in a dark corner when he was 25, and snickered at the mental image, meanwhile, the current Ethan was trying to become one with the wall.

 

Of course, one the photographers saw Tony and Shay together, and immediately swarmed in for photos.

 

They took several pictures, until they decided that they’d had enough and dispersed, leaving Tony and Shay alone again.

 

“So,” Tony asked, leaning back against the table they were sitting at. “Which picture do you think will make the front page?” He asked.

 

Shay’s eyes traveled around the huge banquet hall they were in, before resting on a scene that was definitely going to be in magazines tomorrow.

 

“That one.” She said, and pointed it out.

 

She had been right when she said that Belle was most likely wandering around the charities, and she had found the stand for the Humane Society. However, she wasn’t nearly as alone as Shay had feared, Steve was there with her, and they were both currently obsessing over the tiny puppy that Belle had in her hands.

 

It was a golden lab, and it was pawing at her face, meanwhile, Steve was standing next to her with his hand on her shoulder. Both were cooing at the tiny puppy while the photographers went crazy. They didn’t seem to notice, it was entirely possible that neither of them knew that they were getting their picture taken.

 

Tony smiled. “Jesus Christ, that scene’s more American than George Washington wearing the American Flag as a cape, drinking coca-cola, and watching baseball.”

 

Shay snickered at that comparison, but then she noticed something.

 

Tony had a weird look in his eyes, a look that she had never seen on Tony before, and he was just staring at Belle and Steve.

 

No, wait, he was staring at Steve.

 

She knew she recognized that look, it was a very similar look that Thor and Jane looked at each other with, the one that Bruce and Betty often shared, and the one that Natasha looked at Clint with when she thought none of them noticed.

 

And now, her dad was looking at Steve in the exact same way.

 

...Interesting.

**~~~~The next day, 12:00 p.m.~~~~**

 

The kids were standing in a circle around the table in Tony’s kitchen, the table was currently full of papers, they were all whispering to each other, and they all kept glancing around suspiciously, like they were expecting somebody to jump out and attack them.

 

This was a normal party planning session for them.

  
Except for the fact that none of their parents were there.

 

Normally, everybody who lived in the tower was at these meetings, except Steve of course, but now, they were all gone, currently saving the world. So now it was up to the kids, along with some help from a few adults, to set everything up for the party.

 

God, Shay didn’t know if Dr. Doom had horrible timing, or incredibly good timing, because he’d managed to get Steve out of the house without making him suspicious at all.

 

Of course, their parents hadn’t done the whole, “Oh, we all forgot about your birthday, and now we’re going to give you a heart attack by jumping out an surprising you,” because Steve would know they were pretending. It was nearly impossible for anyone to forget that Captain America’s birthday was on the 4th of July.

 

However, they had been gone before the kids woke up, so none of them really knew what their parents had done.

 

But, that’s not important right now.

 

Hopefully, Doom’s robot army would manage to distract their parents for a couple more hours, they needed all the time they could get.

 

Luckily, Jane, Betty, Pepper, Happy, and Phil were there to help. Phil had also brought his wife, a woman named Julia, and his son, a 16-year-old named David.

 

Happy had left to pick up the cake from the bakery, because, besides Steve, Belle was the only one in the tower that could cook, and she was too worried that she’d mess up the cake if she tried to make it. All of the food for the party had been left downstairs in Natasha’s kitchen, which nobody ever went to, and Phil, Julia, and Betty were currently moving all of it to the fridge on the roof, which was where the party was going to be. Pepper and Jane were filling red, white, and blue balloons (Because they were cheesy bastards) with helium.

 

The kids were trying, emphasis on trying, to move things to the roof. Alek and Archer were trying to push a table into the elevator, and not doing very well, and there were two more tables and a bunch of chairs left to move.

 

“Try turning it on it’s side.” Ethan said, although he wasn’t really trying to help at all, he was just watching the other two guys, trying not to laugh.

 

“We’ve already tried that ten times!” Archer growled, and Alek tried not to break the table into a hundred pieces in his frustration.

 

David got up, and inspected the sides of the elevator. “There is no way that the table will fit.” He said, perfectly in monotone.

 

“Then we try something else.” Shay said.

 

Within moments, Shay had suited up had was opening one of the huge windows on the floor, a window that was big enough to fit the table through.

 

“Okay,” She said, turning to the rest of the team. “I’m going to go out there, then Alek will pass the table out to me, and I’ll grab the other side, then we’ll both carry it up to the roof together.” Her plan was good, but there was still a very high chance that they’d drop it 60 stories to to ground.

 

Luckily, they didn’t, and they managed to get all three tables up to the roof, and the rest of the kids moved all the chairs to the roof, all without accident.

 

They could see the battle going on between their parents and Doom’s robots, it was just on the other side of town, and they could actually hear the Hulk roaring and see Iron Man flying around from here.

 

The rest of the adults met them up on the roof, all of them had their hands filled with balloons.

 

They had some work to do.

**~~~~3 Hours Later~~~~**

 

“Shh...”

 

“Quiet, they’re coming.”

 

The door opened, and Tony peaked his head in. “He’s coming.” He whispered, then disappeared again, shutting the door silently.

 

After another moment, the door opened and Steve stepped inside.

 

“SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

 

“OH MY...god...” He yelped, then relaxed when he noticed that the room wasn’t full of people who wanted to kill him.

 

More people had arrived to the tower since this morning, people that the kids had heard of, but never officially met, Steve’s best friend, Bucky Barnes, Tony’s best friend, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Darcy Lewis, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill.

 

And all of them were here to watch Steve screech like he was being attacked.

 

The room was silent for a moment while Steve stared at the people in the room, until the rest of the Avengers, who had been standing behind him the whole time, pushed him the rest of the way into the room.

 

“Surprise?” Tony said, sounding more like a question than a statement.

 

That was when Steve broke out of his trance, and grinned. “How did I not see this coming?” He asked himself, but that was all he managed to say before he was swarmed by the party guests.

**~~~~Several Hours Later~~~~**

 

Shay leaned back in one of the chairs, stuffing a handful of chips in her mouth. It was 9:00, and the fireworks were about to start. They were all still on the roof, which was, apparently, a great place to watch the fireworks from.

 

The kids were all sitting around one table, including David.

  
In the past nine hours that she had known him, Shay had decided that she liked David. He was so...deadpan and witty, he was the kind of person who Shay knew she would love messing with. He actually reminded her of...Geoff.

 

Not to mention he totally had a crush on Belle.

 

It was fairly easy to see, he kept glancing over at her, and smiling at her. Of course, she didn’t even notice, she just thought he was being nice. In a way, she was right, but he was being a little too nice.

 

However, that was a match that she’d have to work her magic on at another time, right now, she had another couple to worry about right now.

 

Steve and her dad.

  
Since the press conference yesterday, Shay had been paying closer attention to the two of them.

 

She had always been good at telling when people had crushes, she noticed the signs, blushing, sweaty palms, dilated pupils, and that was just the physical signs. There were so many other things that she noticed about the way they acted. They were protective about each other, they were super sweet to each other, they were touchy-feely with each other (Seriously, whenever they were within five feet of each other, they had to be touching somehow), all-in-all, they were so sweet that it made Shay wanna barf.

 

She could not believe she hadn’t noticed this until yesterday.

 

She was pushed out of her thoughts when a can of Dr. Pepper was set in front of her, and she looked up to see Archer standing above her.

 

“Fireworks are starting, and you looked like you could use it.” He said, smiling taking a seat next to her. She stretched her legs across his lap and leaned against his shoulder, taking a huge gulp from her soda.

 

“Thank you.” She said, but didn’t get up from her lazy sprawl across him.

 

“Uh..you’re welcome...” He said, smiling softly again.

 

The fireworks boomed above, and they both turned to look as a firework shaped like Captain America’s shield went off.

  
Ah, Archer was such a good friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And she said she was good at telling when somebody had a crush. I feel bad, I feel like I just doomed Archer to be in the friend zone forever.
> 
> Review, Favorite, Follow, leave your feedback, please!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer- I do not own the Avengers, I only own the children.
> 
> ~TL: Just wanna say that this chapter is great and I love it.

**~~~~The Feeling~~~~**

 

Alek had the feeling that he was being watched.

 

No, it wasn’t a feeling, he knew for a fact that somebody was keeping their eye on him, and he didn’t know whether or not that was a bad thing.

 

Nowadays, whenever any of the kids went into public, everybody watched them, but this was definitely different. Usually, they watched with awe, confusion, and maybe slight fear.

 

However, Alek was good at sensing the intentions of people, and he could tell that the person who was watching him, wasn’t trying to hurt him. In fact, if Alek was correct, this person was only...curious.

 

At first, he was sure he was imagining it.

 

His first experience was in the middle of the night, the kid’s movie night actually. They had been watching one of Shay’s favorite’s, Jurassic Park, if Alek remembered correctly, the one with the dinosaurs, and Alek had gotten up to get more popcorn. It had seemed harmless at the time, but he thought that somebody had been watching him when he was in the kitchen. It had seemed harmless because he usually had that feeling in the tower, what with all of their parents around, and Jarvis, who was, apparently, a computer butler (in simple terms, Shay had said). However... their parents weren’t home at the time, they were gone fighting a battle, and during battles, Jarvis was usually occupied with helping Tony. Those thoughts hadn’t even occurred to him until days later, when the next incident happened.

 

Again, at first, he was sure he had been imagining it, but that had changed when Archer brought it up that he had the same feeling whenever they were fighting, and then, the rest of the team had admitted that they all felt the same way, but had all thought they’d simply been imagining it.

 

They had all agreed not to bring it up to their parents, unless it became clear, that this person was dangerous.

 

But, they would soon find out, it was the exact opposite.

**~~~~July 26th, 10:18 p.m.~~~~**

 

They had been on the Helicarrier when it happened, ironic, they had been in one of the most dangerous situations in their life while they were on the most protected buildings in the world. They had been in training, they had been training in the Helicarrier a lot, Fury wanted to keep them close for a while, not send them on any missions until he was sure they could handle it.

 

Of course they could, but Fury didn’t believe them.

 

The Avengers were out saving the world, along with most of the Shield agents who actually knew what they were doing, left alone with most of the rookies and the tech guys who weren’t working for Shield because they knew how to fight.

 

The grudgingly admitted that it was smart for Modok to attack tonight, when almost all of the Helicarrier was empty. Or, it would have been smart, if he had even considered the fact that the kids were on board.

  
They had been in the middle of a training simulation (kicking ass like always), when all of the holograms had shut off without warning, naturally, the tech guys had panicked. That was when the bots on board had started to go crazy, and had started destroying everything.

 

Naturally, the kids got involved without knowing what they were dealing with.

 

“Alright,” Belle murmured, crouched behind huge crates in the training room, while about 50 of the bots wandered around the room, blowing up weapons and taking the technology specialists hostage. “We need a plan.”  
  
“I’ve got a plan.” Shay had said, and nobody needed any help to realize that she meant flying out there and aiming her repulsors at anything that didn’t have a pulse.

 

“For once, I agree with that plan, these bots are chumps, we take them down everyday in our training.” Archer said, and still staring straight at Belle, Shay held up a fist, and he bumped his against hers without looking at him.

 

“Yes, but in training exercises, they’re not trying to kill us, and something tells me that if we reveal ourselves right now, they will.” Iris brought up a valid point.

 

“Well, what do you suppose we do?” Ethan asked.

 

Iris’ eyes wandered over them, until they landed behind them, on the air vents.

  
Of course, this was Iris they were talking about, of course she’d want to sneak around in the air vents. It was, however, the best idea they had.

 

So, less than 5 minutes later, they found themselves in the air vent, above the cockpit.

 

Modok was floating a few feet behind the pilots, who had been knocked out, and he was currently controlling the jet. Of course, this could turn out badly for Shay in particular.

 

Shay’s suit was technology, and it could turn very bad if Modok somehow managed to get control of it, but luckily, the kids had followed all of the Avenger’s villains when they were fangirling over the heroes that they would soon learn were their parents. So, they knew that as long as you kept him distracted, Modok wasn’t much of a problem.

 

Naturally, Alek and Archer volunteered for the whole “distracting” thing.

 

They shared a quick look, and without any word to the rest of the team, they kicked open the vent and jumped straight at Modok.

 

He was caught off guard, so they managed to get him keep him on the ground, so he lost his focus, and his control of the tech he was controlling.

 

However, there was one problem with their plan.

 

He was the one controlling the Helicarrier, and the minute he lost control, it immediately began to plummet to the ground.

 

With the pilots unconscious, that left nobody left who could, for sure, fly the plane.

 

“OH! GREAT PLAN GENIUSES!” Shay yelled over the blaring alarms.

 

“OH, YOU CAN CALL US IDIOTS LATER! WHAT DO WE DO?!” Archer yelled back, still helping Alek hold Modok down.

 

Ethan and Iris were now at two of the pilots’ chairs, Belle and Shay behind them.

 

“Can you land it?” Belle asked them, sounding almost desperate.

 

“Well, I can fly planes, helicopters, and jets, but I don’t know if the fucking Helicarrier counts as any of those things!” Ethan yelled. It wasn’t often that Ethan swore, only when he was very close to hulking out, it was clear that he was holding back because he knew that he had to be himself right now.

 

“You’ll never be able to keep it afloat.” They all glanced at the source of the sneer, Modok, of course. “And even if you kids try to leave, there are still passengers on this ship, and you can’t leave them behind.”

 

He was right, but who said that they were going to try to leave, if the ship went down, they were going down with it.

 

“Alek, bang his head on the ground a few times.” Belle said, making it seem like she wanted to make sure he stayed unfocused, however it was really mostly because she was annoyed.

 

Alek did what he was told without hesitation, until the kids could practically see the birds flying around Modok’s head.

 

“I hate to admit it...but I honestly don’t know if we can keep it in the air, the autopilot isn’t working.” Iris said, eerily calm in this situation.

 

Belle turned her eyes to Shay and Alek. “Can you guys get the crew out?”

 

“Not nearly fast enough.” Shay immediately replied, shaking her head.

 

“Well, this is gonna suck.” Archer said simply, and they were left spiraling straight to the ground, trying not to scream their heads off.

 

That was when the surprising thing happened.

 

A large gust was pushed against the bottom of the plane, and they were sent back into the air, and the autopilot kicked back to life.

 

That wasn’t a gust of wind, that was magic.

 

That’s when Alek felt it again, that feeling of being watched. He turned around and looked straight out the window, where he saw a very large bird flying alongside the Helicarrier, with bright green eyes that were locked right on Alek.

 

That was when he figured out who it was.

 

Hours later, when their parents got back with the competent Shield agents, and the pilots had woken up, Alek was still slightly in shock.

 

After going through the whole worried, relieved, proud thing that their parents seemed to do a lot lately, they were brought back to the tower, exhausted even though they they hadn’t even really done anything.

 

Alek was laying in his bed, staring up at his ceiling, and, once again, he saw that green-eyed bird again, this time outside his window. He sat up and looked it straight in the eye, before getting up and opening the window.

 

“...You are allowed to come inside, if you wish.” Alek said, and the bird looked at him, before it flew into the room.

 

He and Alek had a stare down for a second, before Alek opened his mouth again.

 

“You saved us, on the Helicarrier, thank you for that.” The bird merely tilted his head, like he was acknowledging his thanks.

 

“However, I would like to know why, I thought you hated our parents...” Alek started, staring at the bird, and he didn’t have a doubt that it was who he had thought. “Loki...” He finished.

 

The bird paused for another second, before it vanished, and Loki himself, The God of Mischief, Alek’s uncle, stood in his place.

 

They sat in silence for a moment, simply staring at each other in the darkness of Alek’s room, until Loki spoke up for the first time.

 

“Why have you not called for help?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at his nephew, like he was considering whether or not he was overly trusting, overly stupid, or both.

  
“You have saved many lives this evening, you deserve the benefit of the doubt, also, you and our parents have been on...civil terms, for the last two years.” Alek tried to explain, and he knew that it was probably a stupid idea to let a known enemy inside the tower, but he had a feeling that he could trust Loki at the moment.

 

“So,” Alek started. “Why did you do it?” He repeated.

 

Loki stared at him for a moment, trying to think of a good way to word his answer, before he sighed.

 

“If you were to die, your father would be extremely angry, and if he found out that I could have done something to save you, and didn’t, that anger would be partly directed at me. Not just your father either, have you ever had Dr. Banner angry at you?” Loki was babbling.

 

“No, I cannot say I have.” Alek replied.

 

“I really would not recommend it. Also...Thor is really the only member of my family that I am on civil terms with at the moment, and I do not want to get on his bad side again.”

 

Alek knew that he wasn’t being completely serious, and he knew what Loki wasn’t saying.

 

Loki was lonely.

 

He wanted to be on his family’s good side again, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get Thor and Odin to trust him easily again, so he was going for a family member that hadn’t met him yet, and was trying to make a good first impression on him.

 

That explains why he had been watching him, he was waiting for the perfect moment to reveal himself.

 

After Loki had saved his life, Alek figured that he deserved the companionship that he was very obviously looking for.

 

“Well, we are technically family, and we are on civil terms, are we not?” Alek asked, sending his signature smile at Loki, who looked at him for a moment, before looking away.

 

“I should leave before Stark realizes that his AI has been disabled from this room, and that his cameras have been playing on loop.” Loki straightened up and started toward the window again.

  
Alek raised an eyebrow. “How were you able to do that?

 

“I cannot say that I understand Misgardian technology, however, I do understand magic.” Then, Loki spared the smallest of smiles, before he vanished and the bird once again took his place.

 

He flew out of the window and disappeared into the night.

  
Alek knew that that would not be the last time that he saw Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this probably didn’t go the way most people expected, but I always had this image of Loki being protective of Alek, Alek being the only family member that he had a fair chance of getting along with. I also figured that Loki would be lonely, having little to no friendly contact in a long time, so he would want a chance to make nice with somebody who could get along with him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...After 2 years of no motivation and serious writers block, I decided to attempt to finish this.
> 
> Disclaimer- I do not own the Avengers.
> 
> ~TL: I am now caught up with ShanelleRoseStark!!!! Yay! Anyway I'm going to update this when she updates hers. So please watch for the next chapter!!

**\-----With Shay, Archer, and Alek---**

Shay and Archer were standing above the boy on the couch (Because they at least wanted to appear intimidating, which was kinda hard to do, because a 5’2 girl and a 5’8 boy don’t exactly look that intimidating to a 6’1 giant), they both had their arms crossed, and looks of disappointment on their faces.

 

“Alek,” Archer started. “You’ve been acting...weird, lately, weirder than normal I mean.” He said.

 

Alek tensed. “I...I do not know what you were talking about.” He said.

 

“Son, your mother and I are worried about you.” Archer said in a fake-parental voice.

 

“And you’re a terrible liar.” Shay added, Archer nodded.

 

Alek looked like he was going to vomit. “Um...can we talk about it later.” He looked around the room, a room that he knew had cameras and microphones watching him at every angle, just like most of the rooms at Stark Tower.

 

Shay raised an eyebrow at that. Really? That bad?

 

“...Who wants to go get ice cream?” Archer asked, clapping his hands together, suddenly cheering up.

 

Alek sighed, yeah, he wasn’t going to get out of this easily.

 

**\-----Later-----**

Shay had her face pressed up against the glass, staring at the many different options that she had to choose from. This might just be one of the most difficult decisions of her life-

 

“Would you just choose one already?” Archer asked, slightly irritated, He and Alek had ordered their ice cream five minutes ago, and Shay still couldn’t pick the flavor that she wanted.

 

“Hold on, I didn’t rush you.”  She said.

 

“I knew what I wanted before we came inside.”

 

Shay didn’t acknowledge him, and narrowed her eyes before looking up at the owner of the small ice cream shop.

 

“Can I just get a huge bowl with like...ten different scoops of ice cream in it?” She asked.

 

The shop owner raised an eyebrow. “Can you afford it?” He asked.

 

He clearly didn’t know who they were. That was new.

 

Shay raised an eyebrow, a grin growing on her face. “I could buy this entire store if I wanted too, I just don’t want to.” The shop owner raised an eyebrow, before shrugging, and grabbing a huge bowl out of one of the cabinets.

 

Shay’s grin grew, and she picked out the strangest, most delicious-sounding ice cream flavors the store had to offer.

 

**\-----Later-----**

Archer stared at Alek in surprise, his mint chocolate-chip ice cream melting in his hands.

 

“So...that is what happened.” Alek finished his story, staring at his own cookie-dough cone, slightly guilty, and slightly sheepish.

 

“You thought it was a good idea to become all buddy-buddy with your uncle, who has been proven to be insane and slightly homicidal?” Archer raised an eyebrow. “That’s some solid logic.” He said sarcastically.

 

“...It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Alek shrugged.

 

“Hey,” Shay interrupted. “This vanilla cupcake ice cream is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.”

 

Archer stared at her for a moment, before sighing. “Really, that’s what you’re worried about? Well, thank god that you ordered a good tasting ice cream!”

 

Everybody in the shop turned and looked at the kid who had just shouted that statement, and Archer turned to look at all of them.

 

“What, haven’t you ever heard a guy yell about ice cream before!?” He yelled, and everybody turned back around.

 

“...So...” Alek continued, pretending like it had never happened. “Are you angry at me.”

 

“A little bit.” Archer said.

 

“Not really.” Shay said at the same time as Archer.

 

Archer sighed loudly.

 

“...Are you going to tell our parents, or my dad in particular?” Alek asked nervously.

 

The other two looked at each other.

 

“Well...no, but we are going to tell the others.” Archer said, and Shay nodded.

 

“You’ll be in enough trouble when we tell Belle and Iris.” Shay said, taking another lick of her ice cream.

 

“That’s even worse.” Alek said.

 

“Yes, yes it is.” Shay nodded, and Alek sighed.

 

**\-----With Tony-----**

Tony had picked a good day to test fly his new suit, because now he had the perfect chance to spy on Shay. Well, and Archer and Alek, but mostly Shay.

 

That’s what good fathers do, isn’t it? No? Well...shut up.

 

He was just staring at them through the window, in full iron man armor, and everybody was staring at him.

 

How had the kids not noticed him yet? Wasn’t Archer supposed to be observant?

 

“Sir.” Jarvis interrupted his spyi- no, not spying, it was just being a protective father.

 

“Yes, Jarvis?” He asked.

 

“You have an incoming call, Sir.”  
  


“Who is it? Tell them I’m very busy right now.”

 

“It’s Captain Rogers, Sir.”

 

“Nevermind, put it through.” Tony corrected himself, standing a little straighter.

 

“Very well, Sir.” Did he sound sarcastic to anyone else? Or was it just him.

 

The familiar beeping sound of somebody being patched through to the suit, and then Steve’s voice.

 

“Tony, do you know where Shay, Alek, and Archer are?” He sounded slightly panicked.

 

“Yes, I’m watching them right now.” He answered.

 

“Well, all of you need to get to the hospital, Jane went into labor.” Oh, that’s why he sounded panicked.

 

“I don’t really want to interrupt them, they look like they’re having a really important conversation.” He said, slightly sarcastically, slightly not.

 

Steve paused for a second. “Tony, I think this is more important.”

 

“Hey, you don’t know how important it could be.” Tony argued, this time simply trying to be a smartass.

 

“Well, I’m sure that Alek would at least like to know about it, it’s going to be his sibling after all.” Steve tried to reason.

 

“Still, it looks really important. I’ll tell them when they come out of the ice cream shop.”

 

“TONY!”

 

“Fiiiiiiine, sheesh, you try to be polite to your children, and this is what you get.”

 

“Aren’t you spying on them right now?” Steve asked.

 

“No, I am merely observing them.”

 

“Tony, that’s what spying means.” Steve sounded like he was talking to a five-year-old.

 

“Shut up.” Tony said, because he couldn’t come up with a snarky comeback.

 

“Oh, will you just tell them?” Steve asked.

 

“I said fine, I’ll just go and knock on the window... I guess. God, this is going to weird them out, they’ll think I was spying on them or something.”

  
“You were, Tony, do we need to go over this again?”

 

“Yes, yes we do, it would be quite helpful.”  
  


“Just go get the dang kids.” Steve sounded exasperated.

 

“I’m already on it.” Tony paused right in front of the window the kids were sitting at, and he awkwardly knocked on the window.

 

They all turned to look at him, Alek’s jaw dropped, and Shay raised an eyebrow, but Archer’s only reaction was to wave at him, making Tony wonder if he had known that he was here the entire time.

 

Tony waved back, and then gestured at them to come outside.

 

They all looked at each other, and shrugged, before going out of the shop. The owner of said shop looked like he was having a panic attack, he was waving his arms and screaming...or maybe he was just fanboying.

 

“Hey Dad.” Shay said, casually.

 

“Hey, so, according to Steve, we all need to go to the hospital, because Jane’s in labor.” Tony said just as casually.

 

They let that sink in for a minute.

 

“WHAT!?!? WE NEED TO GET TO THE HOSPITAL!” Alek yelled, and took off running in a random direction, before freezing, and running back. “WHICH WAY TO THE HOSPITAL!?” He asked. Tony pointed in the opposite direction that Alek had been running in, and he took off again.

 

“...Wait, no, the hospital is that way.” He pointed in the direction that Alek had originally went, and Shay snorted loudly.

 

“I guess I should go tell him…you two should just take a taxi.” Tony’s visor went back over his face, and he took off after Alek.

 

Shay and Archer looked at each other, before Archer shrugged, and whistled for a cab.

**\-----At the hospital-----**

 

Shay sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room, staring at the wall. They’d been here for two hours so far, not very long considering how long a childbirth could take, but that didn’t mean that it hadn’t felt like an eternity.

 

Everybody had been looking forward to this baby.

 

Within the time that she’d known Jane, Shay had come to like the woman very much, she was one of the (many) new parental figures that Shay had since she moved into the tower, and one that she got along with very well.

 

Jane was like a very cool aunt, the one that’s always nice, fair, and level-headed, and someone like that was needed when you lived in such a huge building with so many people.

 

No to mention that she got along with absolutely everybody.

 

Now, she and Thor were in a hospital room, while everybody else waited with bated breath for the newest member of their (insane) family to be born.

 

For the first time in a long time, Shay couldn’t keep a calm look on her face. Her expression kept switching from excited, to worried, to nervous, and then back to excited. But she wasn’t the only one that was having trouble containing themselves. Alek had been pacing for the entire time that they’d been at the hospital, not sitting down once. Steve and Belle had both been staring at the door, occasionally grimacing, which reminded Shay that both of them could probably hear every single noise in that room.

 

That must’ve sucked.

 

Even Natasha seemed unable to sit quietly, as she had been tapping her foot rather loudly for the past hour.

 

This baby better hurry up, before somebody (probably Alek) went absolutely insane.

 

Finally, 45 minutes later, Belle and Steve sat up straighter, and a doctor popped his head out of the room.

 

“So...who wants to see her?” He asked grinning.

 

The hospital room was full in seconds.

 

**\-----Later-----**

 

“That took a while.” Tony mumbled, stepping out of the elevator of the tower, followed by the rest of their group, aside from Thor and Jane, who had to stay at the hospital overnight with their new baby girl.

 

Their new baby girl, Aura Joy Odinson, who wailed like a police siren, and already had tufts of messy blonde hair growing out of her head.

  
She was absolutely adorable.

 

“It was childbirth, Tony, it’s supposed to take a while.” Clint said, like he was talking to a kid.

  
People spoke to Tony like that a lot.

 

“Still...” He grumbled, trailing off.

 

The adults started to wander away  into different parts of the tower to do their own thing. Clint dragged Archer to the extravagant  video game system in the main living room, yelling about a rematch. Archer must’ve beaten his father at Mario Kart this morning. Natasha and Iris stalked off in the direction of the training room together, shoulder-to-shoulder, mumbling to each other. Bruce sat down on an armchair, picking up a book that he’d left on the coffee table earlier, picking up where he’d left off, and Betty came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Alek and Ethan sat down on the floor near the couch, preparing to watch Clint and Archer engage in “The Race of the Century,” Or so Archer had called it.

 

Tony and Steve had been chatting casually for most of the ride home, and Steve brought up their conversation once again while he followed Tony to down to his lab, not unlike a lost puppy.

 

Or a star-crossed lover.

 

Belle had sat down at one of the stools at the breakfast bar, and Shay had plopped down next to her, watching her father wander away with Steve, a fond smile on his face.

 

“They’re so cute, it makes me wanna barf.” Shay mumbled quiet enough so only the girl next to her could hear her.

 

Belle looked up at her, a bemused expression on her face. “What?”

 

Shay looked at her like she was the crazy one. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed.”

 

“Noticed what?” Belle responded, making Shay roll her eyes like it was obvious.

 

“That our dads have the hots for each other.” She replied quietly, throwing her hands up in the air.

 

“Uh...what?” Belle asked, because, yeah, what?

 

“You know, they wanna do the do, hit a home run, dance to the horizontal tango.” Shay said, mimicking Archer’s eyebrow waggle that he did when he made perverted jokes. “But no, seriously, they obviously really like each other.”

 

Belle looked at her for a moment. “Last time you were so sure that people had crushes on each other, Nicholas and Georgia ended up on a date. Let’s not forget how that went.” She said dryly, having a very clear memory of her foster mother coming home covered in alfredo sauce and soda.

 

“Ok, to be fair, I had been up for 52 hours straight when I set them up.” Shay defended. “But seriously, next time you see them, just look at them, watch how they interact with each other. I can guarantee that this time, I’m right.”

 

Belle looked at her, and sighed. “What do you mean exactly by “watch how they interact with each other?” She asked.

 

“Just watch their reactions to each other, you know. Like, how they look at each other when the others not looking, or how they’re always trying to find ways to touch each other, or how they talk to each other like they’re the only ones in the room.” Shay explained.

 

“...Wow, Shay, since when were you such a romantic?” Belle asked, quirking an eyebrow

 

“I guess it’s just part of my charm.” Shay said, flipping her hair dramatically.

 

**\----Elsewhere----**

 

The look on David’s face could be described as bored. He was sat at a picnic table in the middle of Central Park, across from him, two people were sitting closely next to each other. They both had almost unnaturally bright red hair and pale skin. One, the boy, was sitting perfectly still, the girl was jittery, foot tapping, eye twitching, etc.

 

“So you’re asking me to get you fake birth certificates, passports, IDs...everything?” David asked.

 

“Can you?” The boy asked, slightly hesitant.

 

“Don’t insult me, of course I can.” David said, then he sighed. “I suppose you don’t want me to tell my parents.” He said, it wasn’t a question, he knew what the answer would be,

  
“Sorry, but...the less SHIELD knows, the better.” The girl said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5, and I’m back to trying to update quickly. I’ll try for once a week.
> 
> Also, yeah, introducing new characters!
> 
> Disclaimer- I don’t own the Avengers, all rights go to their proper owners, I merely own the children (And I’d be willing to work out a deal if you want them).
> 
> ~TL: So like just saying the first part of this has an OC of mine, not saying the name, cause she was gonna put in more OC's and she had them all planned out but like I asked her to put in some of mine and she agreed so yeah I'm super happy. I get to be a kinda Co Author!!!!! Anyway, enjoy!

**\---Many Years Ago---**

 

Two women are standing in a dark room in what looks like an old cabin, the fireplace is lit, and that is the only source of light in the room. Rain is pounding outside of the window, creating background noise for their quiet conversation. The younger of the two women is holding a bundle of blankets.

 

“A young daughter is born to a sorcerer and a human woman, admittedly, not something that you see everyday.” The older of the two announced, an amused tone in her voice.

 

The younger sighed. “Yes, and that’s exactly why I’m worried. Her father wasn’t exactly well liked. What if they come for her? I can’t exactly do anything.”

 

“Oh hush.” The older woman scolded, rolling her eyes.

 

“But-”

 

“No, you must not worry the child as she grows up, you don’t want to focus on “What ifs?” Do you?” She asked her younger companion, who sighed.

 

“I suppose you’re right.”

 

“Indeed I am.”

 

“But, that doesn’t help calm my fears.” The woman said, holding the bundle of blankets, her baby, closer to her.

 

The older woman stood up, and walked to a small, dusty jewelry box that was perched on a coffee table. “So, we give her protection.” She said, opening the box, which was empty except for one necklace.

 

“Give this to her, it will keep her safe, protect her.” She handed it to the mother, who looked at it for a minute.

 

“How will this keep her safe?” She eventually asked.

 

“Ah, dear, when the time comes, you’ll know.”

 

**\---Present Day, Avengers Tower---**

 

So, lemme get this straight,”  Shay raised an eyebrow at her dad. “They want me to go in weeks before school even starts to take a test to see if I fully earned to graduate last year.” She asked.

 

Shay had been a senior in high school last year, however, she had been unable to attend the last week of school because of...reasons (Missions), and she had missed graduation.

 

She was technically supposed to be a sophomore this year, so, the school that her and the other kids were attending (AKA, the school David went to) wanted her to take a test that would show whether or not she was advanced enough to have graduated. And they wanted her to go in the late August.

 

Oh hell no.

 

“Or,” She started. “I could go in as a sophomore, already understand all of the information, and actually go to school with people that I like.”

 

“Exactly.” Tony confirmed, as if he didn’t just receive the most sarcastic answer in eternity.

 

“...Are you actually going to make me answer this?”

 

“No, that’s why I already told them the answer was no.” Tony smirked.

 

“Good, so, sophomore year?” Shay asked, just to make sure.

 

“Yeah, have you been in this year yet? Or was it one that you skipped?” Tony asked, out of curiosity.

 

“Nah, I skipped 3rd, 6th, and freshman year.” She replied, waving her hand like it was no big deal.

 

Then again, Tony had graduated MIT summa cum laude when he wasn’t that much older than she is now. So, it might not’ve been that big a deal to him.

 

That’s when Steve walked into the living room after a workout in the gym, his eyes searching out the people in the room (currently: Shay, Tony, and Belle, who was sitting next to Shay with her notebook out), and he grinned largely.

 

“Good Afternoon, Tony, Belle, Shay.” He said, looking at the individual person as he said their name.

 

Shay smiled and nodded, and Belle looked up from her drawing to smile and reply, “Hi Dad.”

 

Tony, however, smiled back at him just as largely. “Afternoon, Steve, how was training?”

 

Shay elbowed Belle’s side, unnoticeable to everyone except for Belle herself, who looked up at her and followed her gaze to their dads.

 

Oh, wow.

 

Tony had gotten up to follow Steve into the kitchen, which they could see clearly from their spot on the couch (Thank you open floorplan!), they were talking about...something, but it wasn’t really important. Tony had latched on to one of Steve’s arms (The bicep, more precisely), his hand wrapped around the muscle. Both were grinning intently at each other, eyes locked onto each others.

 

It looked like a scene out of a romance movie, not something that two friends do in the middle of their kitchen with their daughters watching.

 

Belle turned to look at Shay, who was looking right back at her, eyebrows raised, signature smirk on her face.

 

Okay, maybe she was right this time.

 

God, it was annoying when Shay was right.

**\---On the Other Side of the Tower---**

 

Archer and Iris trained together often. It made sense to them, as they were the only two people on the team who didn’t have superpowers and/or a high-tech suit of armor. Besides, in Archer’s opinion, Iris was very easy to talk to. She was a good listener, and she never told anyone else your secrets, no matter who was asking or what the secret was.

 

But, 90% of the time, you didn’t even need to tell her anything, because she usually already knew.

 

Like how she knew about his crush on Shay, which he had done a pretty good job at hiding from everybody else. It’s not his fault that sometimes he gets all stuttery and blushy and voice-cracky (is that even a word, I don’t think that’s a word) when she’s around. If anything, it’s Shay’s fault, she’s the one that’s all cuddly with all of her friends, which he just so happens to be one of.

 

Goddamnit Shay.

 

“Well then, I suppose we know what you’re thinking of.” Iris mumbled, smirking slightly.

 

Archer made a face, had he said that outloud?

 

At the moment he and Iris were sparring, practicing different “Ninja moves” as Shay calls them. This was how things went with them, Iris was no doubt the best at mastering the techniques of these moves, but very, very few people could even land a hit on Archer while he was in the zone.

 

“You know, you’re going to have to tell her eventually.” Iris said, aiming a kick at him, which he narrowly avoided.

 

“No I don’t, obviously you don’t fully comprehend my ability to avoid talking about things I don’t wanna talk about.” Archer replied, barely ducking out of the way of her fist.

 

“Oh, you are such a baby.” She rolled her eyes, avoiding a swing that he made at her by jumping over his arm.

 

“Oh, come on, there’s no way that she can like me, we’ve been friends for too long.” Archer said, dodging the grab that she made back at him by flipping straight over her head, so they were face-to-face again.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard your excuses,” She said, and then smirked slightly. “Oh, she can’t like me, she knows that I wet the bed until I was seven.” She mocked putting on a ridiculously fake impersonation of him.

 

“Oh, shut up.”

 


End file.
